Alter Ego
by lizardsocks
Summary: In Rose's room, there's a very realistic simulation of a human teenager named Selena. Steven thinks she might be real and wants to get to know her, but he's also worried he might be seeing something that isn't there. (Based on the Star Trek: Voyager episode)


For the past month, Greg had been hoping to get everyone together for a cookout - maybe bring some hot dogs, some chips, and go outside and enjoy the nice weather. He'd had this day circled on the calendar for a month. Unfortunately, a storm was going through the peninsula, and the rain was coming down in droves.

A handful of Gems were gathered in Steven's house: Amethyst, Garnet, and Peridot were there, along with Steven and Greg. Connie had even made the trip; her parents were heading in that direction anyway, and they insisted on dropping her off so that she wouldn't need to borrow Lion's services.

"So should we just hang out in here?" Amethyst asked.

"Might as well," said Greg. "I brought the food with me."

Peridot glanced over at the door to the temple, then stood up and, striking a confident pose, addressed the group.

"This is the perfect opportunity to announce my newest holographic creation!" she said.

"Ooh." Amethyst leaned in. "Did you add dragons this time?"

"I told you, I am _not _adding dragons to my story unless you can give me a compelling character arc!"

Connie leaned over to Steven. "Is she using your mom's room for these?"

"Yeah," Steven said. "She feels a lot better when she has a project to work on."

Peridot cleared her throat. "My new holographic environment imitates the environment of the beach, as it appears under pleasant weather. It even includes a functional grill!"

Garnet adjusted her glasses. "So it's the outside."

"I reimplemented the outside, _inside_!" Peridot grinned. "It's my greatest achievement yet! You will need to bring your own food, though."

The group packed up everything they had brought for the picnic - a beach blanket, some pasta salad, a lawn game Garnet had that seemed to involve a lot of heavy wooden blocks - and started to file through the temple door. Connie, though, noticed that Steven was hanging back, sitting on the couch. He seemed to have something on his mind.

"Have you seen this simulation of Peridot's before?" she asked.

"Yeah. I've seen it a bunch of times."

"Is there something wrong with it?"

"Just the opposite, actually." Steven sighed. "She set the simulation up to include other people on the boardwalk next to the beach, so it didn't seem so empty. And it works better than you'd think. But one of those people... She seems so real. It's like she's a real person. And I just wonder if somehow... she might be."

Connie sat down next to Steven. "Have you told anyone else?"

"No. I'm worried that I'm reading too much into it. I always want to connect with people, but... I'm worried that I'm trying to connect to someone who's not even there."

"Well," said Connie, "I'd certainly like to meet her."

* * *

For someone who had only been on Earth for about a year, Peridot had really figured out how to make the simulation feel authentic. The weather was almost perfect, but not in an uncanny way - there was just a hint of a breeze. And the bustle of the boardwalk behind them sounded just like the real thing.

Greg was busy trying to make the perfect hot dog on the simulated grill, and Steven, and the Gems had gotten into a heated conversation about which ways to summon your weapon looked the "coolest". Connie, not having anything to contribute, was beginning to feel a bit left out. Instead of awkwardly standing around and not talking, she figured she'd head over to a different part of the beach and hang out there until the food was ready. She pulled out a video game - one that saved automatically, so she could shut it off at a moment's notice.

It wasn't long before a girl came up from behind her - a teenager, probably - and sat down on the sand.

"Are you from Beach City?" the girl asked.

"No, I'm from out of town," Connie said. "Not that far, though."

"Same here." The girl looked over at Connie and smiled. "I'm Selena."

"Connie."

"Whatcha playing?" Selena gestured at the video game.

"It's called Burning Icon." Connie showed Selena the screen. "It's a turn-based strategy game. You move your army around and try to attack the enemies. Well, unless you can figure out how to recruit some of them."

"They all look different."

"Yeah, each character has a name, and they have their own abilities and stats. But if one of them dies, you can't use them for the rest of the game."

"An elegant way to capture the uniqueness and impermanence of human life."

"Well, I don't know how realistic it is. I've been playing as this guy for 15 chapters and he still can't figure out how to use a spear."

Selena laughed. "Maybe he's like a Gem. He can only use his own weapon."

It suddenly occurred to Connie that she had been talking to a simulation - not only would most humans wouldn't have known that much about Gems, but now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen anyone entering the simulated environment that she didn't already know.

Connie looked over at Greg. It looked like he was about ready with the food. This would be a good excuse to get back to the Gems and ask about this girl she had met.

"I should get going. It was nice meeting you." Simulation or not, Connie still wanted to be polite.

"The pleasure is mine," Selena said with a smile as she began walking in the other direction down the beach, turning her gaze to the ocean.

Connie ran over to Peridot, who was trying to hold Pearl's spear and - sure enough - wielding it completely wrong.

"Hey, Peridot! That girl Selena..."

"Selena? Who's that?"

"Is she part of the environment?"

Peridot tossed the spear aside. "I don't know. Probably. I had it just make random people for background noise."

"But... it seems like you would have had to spend a lot of time to make a simulation that realistic."

"Well, it wasn't me." Peridot shrugged. "Maybe Steven made her. He brings things to life, right?"

* * *

Connie sat with Steven on a towel, eating pasta salad.

"She's probably based on a real person," Steven said. "Maybe from before I was born. Do you think Rose knew her?"

"I don't know about that," said Connie. "If the room is showing her as a teenager, then Rose can't have known her for more than sixteen years or so. Between her and you, the room knows your dad a lot better, and it still couldn't make a convincing simulation of him... I think she did start out as a generic person, just like Peridot said. Are you sure you didn't, like, sneeze on her or something?"

"I don't think that would even do anything to them. It would probably pass right through. Besides, my healing powers can only heal things that were alive at some point. If she's a living being _now_, she must have been one before I met her."

"Could she be Gem-powered?"

"Maybe."

"But Pearl and Garnet have lived here for thousands of years. They probably would have found the gem by now." Connie laid on the towel as Steven kept eating. "I don't even know who to ask about this. It's so weird. Is there anyone on Homeworld who might know?"

"Some Gems don't even think of _themselves_ as living beings," said Steven. "But I suppose I'll be going back to Homeworld at some point. I might as well ask then."

"I guess there's no reason to rush into anything," Connie said. "It's not like she's causing any trouble, right?"

* * *

Connie stood by the phone, waiting.

Steven had told her that he might need her help with something. Normally, Connie's parents would be willing to give her a ride - it may have been inconvenient for them, but they probably still weren't totally comfortable with her riding through a magic portal on a magic lion. But they both had things come up at work, so magic lion it was.

When the phone finally rang, Connie grabbed it as fast as she could.

"Hello?"

"Oh, it does work! Hi! This is Selena."

"Selena? I... Where'd you get my number?"

"Oh, I'm using Steven's phone." Either Selena didn't know she was just part of a simulation, or she didn't realize how strange it was for a hologram to make a phone call. "I haven't seen you around lately," she continued, "and I was just wondering if anything's new with you."

Connie leaned against the counter. "Well, I only come to Beach City every now and then."

"Oh, so you do live out of town! I thought you were just playing along with the simulation." So she _did _know. "I suppose I won't see you in this room anytime soon, then."

"Well, I'll probably be there at some point. Peridot is always coming up with new things to put in there."

"She is," laughed Selena. "She's so different from me. But I like her. Oh- I think Steven saw me using his ph- oh, never mind. He's just looking at a cool bug. But I better get going. Talk to you later. I hope."

Connie made a mental note to make Steven set a passcode on his phone.

* * *

Steven didn't end up needing Connie's help that day, but two weeks later, something did come up.

"I got here as fast as I could. Well, as fast as Lion could, I suppose." Connie jumped off onto the beach, her sword in its sheath.

"They're not on the _beach_, Connie. Well... not yet." Steven pointed up at the house. "But they're starting to fill up the house."

"I didn't think the holograms could exist outside of your mom's room."

Garnet walked over, looking down at the axe she was holding.

"Neither did we."

Pearl jumped down from the deck. "That axe is made out of light, like a Gem weapon. But it's not one of ours. The phantoms - that's what we've been calling them - they all have one. They're not very accurate with their weapons, but my spear is hardly doing any damage to them."

Connie looked at Steven. "You've talked to Selena, right?"

Steven nodded.

"Did she ask about the video game I was playing?"

"Yeah. Peridot actually got her a copy. Although I'm _pretty _sure it was pira-"

Connie started running up the hill towards Steven's house. She pulled out her sword, determined and prepared for battle. And then she slowed down, looked up and sighed.

"I'm going to have to have a talk with her."

* * *

Connie charged through the house. The phantoms were no match for her sword - not one of them could land a single hit on her before getting impaled and disappearing into a flash of light. She started with Steven's bedroom, jumped back down to the main area, then went through the kitchen, over the counter, and across to the bathroom.

Once the rout was complete, it was time to take the fight to its source.

* * *

Connie stepped into Rose's room, her sword drawn.

She didn't know what she had expected to see, but the room was nearly empty. The holographic floor below her seemed to be made of stone, and it extended far into the distance. Everything else was pitch black.

Out in the real world, nobody but Rose and Steven - and now Peridot, albeit with Steven's permission - had ever been able to operate Rose's room. But none of them would have filled Steven's house with axe-wielding ghosts. And it was no accident that they were resistant to Pearl's spear, and yet weak to Connie's sword - those were the same advantages and disadvantages that axe fighters had in _Burning Icon_. This had to be Selena's way of getting her attention.

As Connie walked further into the room, another figure entered her vision: a teenage girl. Sure enough, it was Selena. And she was... smiling?

"Connie! You came!" Selena ran up to Connie the moment she caught sight of her. "I knew you had a sword. I was hoping you'd figure it out."

"So you _did _make the phantoms, then?"

"Of course. All it took was a software update to your simulator, and of course they were never going to hurt anyone. I know how vulnerable humans can be - I made sure they'd always miss."

"Well, why didn't you _tell _us that?" shouted Connie. "One of them broke Steven's TV."

Selena took a step back, startled. "I'll find a new one. I promise. I just... I was afraid I'd never see you again."

"And so you send a bunch of bandits after my friends? Who _does _something like that?"

"I've never had a friend before, okay?" Selena closed her eyes briefly and sighed. "I've never wanted one. I was so sick of all the other Fluorspars, all talking about their fusions. I never wanted to be part of that - it just wan't something I could ever relate to. But you..."

"You know I've fused with Steven, right?"

"But you're... different, somehow. Even next to the other humans. I like Steven and Greg a lot, but... The way you sat down by yourself at that picnic. If I had to guess, I'd bet you'd rather sit alone, and have everyone see you there, than listen to them talk and be reminded of how different you are from everyone else. That's exactly how I used to be."

"..._Used _to be?"

Selena turned around and reached down with her right arm, as if typing on an invisible touchscreen. Just a few seconds later, the entire room changed around them. Connie found herself in a space station on a distant moon; thousands of years old, and clearly built by Gems. Looking out the window, she could see that the station was orbiting a large, rocky planet. But everything seemed so quiet...

She looked behind her to see a Gem stand up from her position behind a computer console. Connie knew: _this _was the real Selena. She had been using the simulation as an interface, a way to interact with the other Gems. The console almost completely encircled her chair; otherwise, the room was devoid of furniture, and the two of them were the only ones around.

"This is still part of the simulation, isn't it?" asked Connie. "For me, at least. You're using the room to show me where you live."

The Gem slowly walked up to the window and looked out at the star.

"I don't know how many Gems see the beauty of organic life, the way my Diamond did," Selena said, "but I think most of us appreciate the elegance of a binary star. I'm posted here to keep the planet's orbit from falling out of alignment."

"Was it like this when you found it?"

Selena nodded. "But it wasn't going to stay that way on its own. Not once we harvested everything we could."

"Is there anyone else out here?"

"No. That's why I took the job. I wanted to be alone."

"Then why hack into our simulation?"

Selena's eyes stayed fixed on the star.

"I think you might be lonely, Selena. Even if you don't want to admit it."

"Sometimes..." Selena looked away. "Sometimes I wonder if there's someone else out there, among the stars. Someone who's like me. And for a while... I thought you might be that person." She turned her attention back to Connie. "But humans don't live forever. You have people you need to get back to. I know I could never convince you to stay."

Selena walked back over to her chair and sat down, her eyes trying to focus on the data on the screen in front of her.

"Selena," said Connie, softly. "Do yourself a favor and take a break. Go back home. Spend some time with other Gems. Maybe you'll never find someone _exactly _like you, but you shouldn't overlook the people who are already there."

"I'll consider it. Just one thing."

Selena walked back to her computer.

"Promise me that you won't look past the people in _your _life."


End file.
